Coral Bay and Carnarvon

Thursday 25^th August

Last day at Exmouth

Today was our last day at Exmouth, and true to fashion we spent it at the beach again.  Seems all the whales and everything else have got tired of us watching them and moved on.  Having said that we still had the company of one turtle and a few whales well out to sea.  It seems the turtle mating season is in full gear, as we had another couple performing for us, again just as we were leaving to go home.  Tomorrow we head down to Coral Bay.

Friday 26^th August

Exmouth to Coral Bay.

It was only a short drive of 178 km down to Coral Bay.  On the way we called into the Prawn Factory again and bought another kilogram of King Prawns.

Although Coral Bay shows up on most maps of Australia, it is basically just two big motor camps and a couple of shops.  Its big attraction is that the Ningaloo Reef is virtually right on the shore here, and as the name suggests, a bay full of coral.  Snorkelling is the thing, followed by fishing, but because all of the bay and most of the area inside the reef is a nature reserve, fishing is limited to outside the reef, which means a boat.  And there are plenty of them and about every second campsite has a boat parked on it.

It is very much a ‘Seaside Resort’, and as soon as you drive into town you get that sleepy seaside resort feeling.

After setting up camp we walked along the beach for about a kilometre and spent the afternoon snorkelling and sunbathing, and Cameron built some fantastic roads for his trucks and cars in the sand.  

The coral here is quite different to what we had seen at Exmouth and probably the most varied and colourful we have ever seen.  Unfortunately, there were nowhere near as many fish about, which seems odd given all the coral.

Saturday 27^th August

Back to the beach again for more snorkelling etc.  Cameron’s confidence in the water never fails to amaze us.  Nothing seems to faze him.  A lot of the time we were 100 - 150 meters from shore in about 3 - 4 meters of water, with a strong wind causing quite a chop. 

He was quite at home doing his own thing, diving down to inspect giant clams and anything else that caught his eye.  It was Christel and I who wanted to go in for a breather long before he was ready to.

Back on shore he built a huge network of roads for his toys, and then spent a long time in the shallows catching small fish.

Sunday 28^th August

Coral Bay to Carnarvon.

Today we headed south again to our next destination Carnarvon.  More of the same roads, and even after all this time, we still can’t get used to the fact that you can drive all day through the countryside and not see a single animal of any kind. 

The countryside is very green and looks like it could support heaps of cattle, but it is all rough scrubby shrubs and harsh grasses.  Every now and again we would pass through areas littered with Termite Mounds.

About 50km south of Coral Bay we crossed back over the Tropic Of Capricorn.  We had been in the Tropics since the 21^st June when we crossed it heading north from Alice Springs.

As we came in to Carnarvon it felt like we were getting back into civilization. We started coming across cultivated land and market gardens and plantations, especially bananas.  Carnarvon is on the coast at the mouth of the Gascoyne River, and has a population of about 9000.  It produces over 30,000 tonnes of fruit and veggies each year and supplies 70% of Western Australia’s veggies.

It has a jetty that is 1.6km long, and is the longest jetty in West Australia.  It is a beautiful town and we have booked in for 4 nights.  There is a lot to see and do in the area, so we may end up staying longer.

After setting up camp we headed in to town to have a look around and do some much needed grocery shopping.  They had Kangaroo steaks for about $9.00 so we decided to have some for dinner.  They were beautiful.

 

Monday 29^th August

Carnarvon.

Happy Birthday Christel.  Cameron had decided he was going to get Mum breakfast in bed, so it was an early start for him.  As usual we turned on the Laptop first thing, and found Christel’s Mum and Dad trying to contact us on Skype.  They gave their birthday wishes and had a chat.  Then after breakfast Christel went on to Facebook and found several messages of birthday wishes.  Thank you to all those people who sent messages.

Strange as it may seem Christel decided she wanted to spend her birthday catching up on some much needed washing and cleaning.  After having spent the best part of the last month in severe water restricted areas, it was well overdue.  We were even allowed to wash the car and caravan.  We had to pay $2 for the car, and $4 for the caravan, but it was well worth it.

After lunch we drove into town to book dinner at a restaurant to celebrate Christel’s Birthday, and also called at the visitors centre.  Some of the nearby attractions include some blowholes and a great snorkelling beach, on the coast at the southern tip of Lake MacLeod, about 80 km north of town.

Carnarvon is also the home of a huge satellite communication dish.  Built in conjunction with NASA it played a vital role during the space race of the 1960s and 70s, and also relayed messages when the Apollo Mission landed on the Moon.  It is no longer used but stands guard on a hill overlooking the town.

We enjoyed a lovely birthday dinner at the Carnarvon Hotel Restaurant, overlooking the water front.  Unfortunately we just missed watching the sunset, but were still able to enjoy the lovely purple colours of the evening sky.  I bet Christel’s birthday next year will be celebrated in very different surroundings.

Lazy Days at Ningaloo

Friday 19^th

The motor camp we were staying at in Exmouth was costing us $52 a night, the dearest we have had.  On our trip out to Turquoise Bay we had passed another motorcamp right under the Lighthouse at the top of the Cape, and strangely enough called Ningaloo Lighthouse Caravan Park.  We had called in and booked for three nights beginning today.  Their charges were $40 a night, and even better, there were about half a dozen beautiful beaches within about 10km drive.

We moved the 20 odd kilometres from Exmouth up to the Lighthouse Motor Camp, and after lunch headed for the nearest beach. As we walked down onto the beach we saw everyone pointing and looking out to sea.  Sure enough there were whale spouts everywhere, and the occasional huge splash as they slapped their huge flippers onto the water.  We had brought our binoculars with us, and with them we could get a great close up of the action.

After making ourselves comfortable on the beach we spent the day swimming and snorkelling, sunbathing and watching the whale shows. It was just amazing how many whales were out there.  No matter where you looked there were whale spouts followed by the huge grey backs rising out of the water as the whales sounded.  Quite often we would see a huge flipper wave in the air and then get slammed down on the water causing a huge splash.

At one stage we saw some huge splashes out on the horizon, and through the binoculars we could see three or four whales breaching and lifting half of their bodies out of the water and then whacking their tails down.  They kept this up for about five minutes.  Apparently this is called Tail Lobbing, and as far as the scientists can ascertain, it is done purely for entertainment.

While we weren’t watching the whales, we were spotting turtles inside the reef, some of them only about 5 meters from the shore. We tried to get photos of them, but they were always too quick, only coming to the surface to grab a breath of air before going down again.  This whole coast line is a Turtle Rookery, that is, a place where turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. 

There are three types of turtles that use this coast as a Rookery, Green Turtles, Hawkesbill, and Loggerhead.  In the sand dunes behind the beach we found these huge hollows in the sand, and it wasn’t until we saw turtle tracks leading away from one of the hollows that we realised we were actually looking at turtle nests.  The hollows were about 2 ½ to 3 meters across and about 1 meter deep. 

Bearing in mind that the eggs were buried under the sand at the bottom of the hollow, it was one big hole the turtles had to dig to lay their eggs.

On the walking track into the beach we came across these cute little buds growing on a shrub.  The locals call them Humming Bird Flowers. 

Needless to say the day passed pretty quickly and before we knew it, it was beer o’clock, and we headed back to camp.

Saturday 20^th.

Today we headed back to Turquoise Bay in the Cape Range National Park.  Another absolutely brilliant day with clear blue skies, no wind, and that beautiful Turquoise coloured water.  Absolutely picture perfect.

We joined heaps of other people snorkelling over the reef looking at all the brilliantly coloured tropical fish.  On one occasion I dived down to look under a coral shelf, and found a huge lobster hiding there.  Cameron is an absolute fish and just lives in the water. There were schools of fish right at the water’s edge, which we fed with some bread while Cameron snorkelled amongst them.

Again the day ended too quickly and we were soon headed back to camp.  It was getting close to sunset as we drove through the National Park, and the Kangaroos, or Euros as they are know in this area, were coming out for their nightly feeding.  They seemed to be everywhere and we had to be careful when they suddenly bounded across the road in front of us.

We had decided that the three days we had booked at the motorcamp weren’t going to be long enough for us to fully enjoy everything Ningaloo had to offer, so when we got back to camp we booked for another two days.

Sunday 21^st

Today we headed back to the same beach we had been at on Friday.  Again we spent the day watching the whales performing but we also had some extra attractions.  We saw a large green shape in the water about 10 meters from the shore.  Christel and I thought it was another turtle, but Cameron reckoned it was a Dugong.  It was surfacing and then sounding and we watched as it gradually got closer to shore.  Suddenly it surfaced right in front of us, and sure enough Cameron was right.  It was a Dugong.  Quietly going about its business about 3 metres in front of us.  Absolutely brilliant.  What a nature lesson.

I grabbed my snorkel to swim with it, but as soon as I got in the water, it quietly swum further away.  Half an hour later it was back again and we followed it along the shore as it quietly made its way along the shore about 3 meters from us. We managed to grab a few quick photos when it surfaced.  It was so close we could hear the rush of air from its nostrils when it breathed out.

Next on the entertainment list were several turtles popping up for some air before going down again.  These guys were a bit further out than the dugong, but one, obviously younger and smaller than the rest, came in quite close and stayed on top of the water for quite a while. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a photo of it.  While watching the whales through the binoculars I spotted a pod of dolphins playing just inside the reef.

I thought I would try a bit of spinning to see if I could catch a fish for tea.  Cameron was standing beside me watching the dugong and turtles, and as a seagull flew past Cameron said “See if you can catch a seagull Dad”.  I threw out the line and wham; a seagull flew straight into it and got itself tangled up.  I had caught a seagull.  Cameron couldn’t believe how good I was.

The poor thing crashed into the sea, and I had to reel it in, and then catch it.  It wasn’t as impressed with my bird catching abilities as Cameron was, and was most uncooperative.  For a little bird it sure had a powerful bite.  It took the three of us to get it untangled, and it took off like a rocket once we let it go. It landed on the beach about 100 metres away, ruffled its feathers, gave us a withering look, and then took off to join its mates.

What a brilliant day it had been.  So much nature right at our feet.  Ningaloo just keeps getting better and better.

Monday 22^nd August

Another hard day at Ningaloo.  Started with a couple of hours school work, and then a trip into Exmouth to pick up the DVD of our Whale Shark swim, do some groceries, and buy some prawns.  There is a fish factory and retail outlet about 20km south of Exmouth, and they specialize in prawns. Some fellow campers had recommended we try them out. We duly bought a kilo of Exmouth King Prawns for $15.



We decided that tonight we would have tea on the beach and watch the sun set.  Back at the caravan we made some lunch and then came the hard part of the day, making a decision on which beach to go to.  Back to Turquoise Bay for snorkelling on the reef, or return to the same beach as yesterday to watch whales, turtles, dolphins and maybe dugongs, and do a bit of fishing.

In the end the latter won out and we spent another lazy day at the beach.  Unfortunately there was nowhere near as much activity with any of the above and all we saw were whales and a turtle.  Again the fish weren’t biting, but hey, we can handle that.  The swimming and the scenery were just as good. About an hour before sunset we came back to camp and loaded up with the prawns and a bottle of bubbly before returning to the beach to enjoy them while watching the sunset.  

To me, watching the sunset over the Indian Ocean from the west coast of Australia has a special significance.  Watching that huge red ball, that has been scorching this enormous dry country since time began, quietly slipping into the ocean at the end of the day is truly a magical moment. The prawns weren’t bad either. 

Cameron couldn’t understand what was so great about watching the sun setting, and spent the entire time, as usual, in the water.  We’re going to have to get that boy x-rayed when we get back to NZ.  I’m sure he must be starting to grow gills.

Back at the caravan we watched the DVD of our Whale Shark swim.  It was brilliant.  Christel got very technical with the laptop and managed to capture several shots from the DVD, which we then managed to post on the Blog Site.

Tuesday 23^rd August

Another hard day at Ningaloo.

After school work this morning, it was time to try out Turquoise Bay again, and catch up on our snorkelling skills.  Even though it is a 65 km drive from Exmouth, Turquoise Bay is always very busy, and today was no exception.  There must have been well over 50 cars plus a few buses parked there when we arrived.  Luckily there is plenty of beach and room for everyone.



As usual, Cameron was straight into the water, where he stayed for the rest of the day.  We couldn’t even convince him to come out for some lunch.  After a while Christel and I joined him out on the coral.  His confidence with a mask and snorkel has increased no end, and he spends as much time, 2 or 3 meters under water exploring nooks and crannies and under coral heads, as he does swimming on top. He discovers all sorts of things away down under the coral, and then we’ve all got to go down and look at it.

He found a big cod hiding under a coral head, and then Christel found an octopus.  We had a lot of fun watching him changing colours every time we got a bit too close to him.  I chased a small stingray for a while but he wouldn’t stop long enough for the others to come and see him.  The number and variety of fish is amazing, including some fairly big specimens.

When Cameron’s not out over the coral, he is playing in the shallows by the shore, and spent some time feeding the fish that flock around as soon as you drop a few chunks of bread in the water.  These guys were quite brave and would snatch bread from between your fingers, and didn’t hesitate to nibble your fingers as well. 



Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head back to camp. We are enjoying it so much here we have decided to book for another couple of days.

Wednesday 24^th August

Another glorious day on the beach.  Not much happening out to sea today apart from the odd turtle just off shore, and a few whale spouts away out to see.  Just as we packing up to head back to camp, Christel spotted a large dark shape on the surface of the water about 100 meters off shore.  It looked like a turtle but seemed too big, and it was staying on the surface, which was unlike the other turtles we had seen.

After watching it for a while we realised it was in fact two turtles, apparently carrying out one of nature’s more essential acts, needed to ensure the continuation of the species.  There was also a third turtle circling the engaged pair. We didn’t wait around to see where he fitted into the scene.

 Of course Cameron had to know what the two turtles were doing, and was quite happy to learn they were mating.  We thought it best not to mention the third turtle we could see; after all, he is only nine.

So ended another hard day at Ningaloo. One more to go, and then we will have to move on down the coast.  Next stop is Coral Bay, about 150km south.  Unfortunately it sounds very much like Exmouth.  Oh well ...

Swimming with Whale Sharks

Thursday 18^th August

The tour bus picked us up at 7.30 and took us down to where our boat was moored in the Lagoon inside Ningaloo Reef.   Once on the boat we motored out to a snorkelling spot. 

The first thing we saw when we got in the water was a stingray half buried in the sand. 

We free snorkelled for about half an hour looking at all the beautiful coral and the hundreds of different fish that inhabit the coral reef.

Christel was the first to spot a beautiful little Nudibranch.  These are beautifully coloured little sea slugs slightly bigger than the ordinary garden slug. 

There are about 50 different kinds, all extremely brightly coloured, and they live in amongst the coral.  The Tour guides became extremely excited and the video camera lady was quickly on the spot to record the find.

Later we found several others, all different colours and all quickly videoed.  We also found another stingray hiding under some coral.  After about half an hour we climbed back on the boat and motored out through a channel in the reef to go looking for Whale Sharks.

The spotter plane was several miles south, in fact we found out later it was off Turquoise Bay where we were snorkelling yesterday.  As we travelled towards the spotter plane we saw several lots of whale spouts, but none close enough to warrant going to investigate.

Soon we got the call that a Whale Shark had been spotted and we headed to where the plane was circling. 

Meanwhile we all got kitted up with our wet suits, flippers, masks and snorkels, and the first group of ten people sat on the marlin board at the back of the boat ready to jump into the water as soon as the boat had manoeuvred into position about 50 meters ahead of the Whale Shark.

Once the boat was in position the skipper yelled “Go Go Go” and we all jumped into the water. 

Suddenly, there coming right at you and filling up the whole of your face mask was this huge fish. 



Absolutely heart stopping stuff.  We quickly swam to one side out of its path, and then proceeded to swim alongside it.

We had strict instructions not to swim anywhere in the area in front of the sharks eyes, and to stay at least 3 meters away from its head and body area, and at least 4 meters away from its tail area.  This shark was quietly swimming along with a very casual wave of its tail.  It seemed hardly enough to make this huge thing move through the water, but we had to swim fairly fast to keep up with him.  He took absolutely no notice of us and just continued quietly swimming along.

Words can’t express the feelings of being in the open sea swimming beside one of the world’s largest fish.  Even at three meters distance, because of the magnifying effect of the water, it felt like you could reach out and touch him.

After about 5 minutes our tour guide called us to stop and we gathered together in a group to wait for the boat to pick us up.  Meanwhile the boat had gone ahead and dropped off the second group of ten, and then it came back and picked us up.  We leapfrogged ahead and jumped in for a second swim with the shark.

At the end of the second swim, the shark apparently got tired of all the attention, and quietly started slipping deeper and deeper into the water until he disappeared.  Meanwhile the spotter plane had found another shark so we were off to find it.

Again the whole process was repeated.  This shark was swimming much slower; in fact he didn’t even appear to be using his tail, so we were able to keep up with him without much effort on our behalves.  This guy was swimming right on the surface and if you put your head above water you could see its dorsal fin cutting through the waves. As we swum beside him we could see him feeding, opening and shutting his huge mouth as he scooped in plankton, then his gills would flare open as he filtered out the plankton before it passed into his stomach. Absolutely magical stuff.

By the end of the day we had had about 10 swims with 5 different sharks. Each shark we swam with was accompanied by several small fish that continually patrolled under its stomach.  There were at least two or three different varieties of fish accompanying each shark, and some of them actually looked like small ordinary sharks.  On one of the sharks I also saw several small fish clinging to its massive tail, getting a free ride as it swished gently through the water.

Like the first shark, the last one we swam with eventually got tired of all the attention, and he too quietly started to slide deeper and deeper, until he finally disappeared into the depths.  Whale Sharks live to about 100 years old and can grow to about 12 meters in length.  The ones we swam with varied between 3½ and 5½ meters in length, less than half grown, but who cares, we had swum with them. 

Because we had been lucky enough to spot so many sharks, we were running a bit behind schedule, so we started a fairly fast run back to the mooring.  We soon spotted a Hump Back Whale calf showing off to his mother by repeatedly jumping out of the water and rolling over on his back before thumping back down again.  We slowed down and cruised alongside this show off for about half an hour.  During that time he was continually leaping out of the water. 

The whole time his mother and another ‘escort’ whale kept alongside him, coming up to breathe and throwing huge geyser like spouts into the air before sounding again, each time showing off their huge grey backs and sometimes their tails.  

Occasionally they would also roll onto their sides and wave their huge flippers into the air before slapping them down onto the water causing a huge splash.  Who said these guys don’t play.

Their course eventually bought them across the bow of our boat, and junior continued his show on the other side, with mum and escort staying close alongside.  At one stage junior came within about 30 meters of the boat. Mother, who had been on the far side of him, must have decided he was getting too close to us, and she quickly swapped sides so that she was between the boat and her offspring, and then gently steered junior away from us.  A remarkable display of nature at work.

Reluctantly we left this young skite to his leaping and splashing, and continued on our way. All around us we could see whale spouts and their huge backs coming out of the water as they sounded.  Suddenly the call went out, Turtle.
 

Sure enough dead ahead in the water was a turtle quietly swimming along. It obviously became aware of the boat approaching and quickly dived out of sight.  This happened about four times during our trip back to the mooring.

We finally arrived back at the mooring and were soon on our bus back to our motor camp.  What a fantastic day, made even better by the great crew and tour guides.  The Video of our day will be available to buy in a couple of day’s time.  We have decided we must have one.  Can’t wait to see it.

So, when you get to Exmouth make sure you book your Whale Watching Tour with Ningaloo Blue Dive Whale Shark Eco Tours.  We can guarantee you will have a great experience. And if you get here within the next two months we can give you a 20% discount voucher!!  Check them out on Google.